Why did God rest on the Sabbath?

            “So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed.  On the seventh day God has finished his work of creation, so he rested [or ceased] from all his work.  And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.”  Genesis 2:1-3

            When I read of God’s rest or cease of work on the seventh day, I wonder why He rested.  God is perfect in all things; His strength, resilience, perseverance, and capability are limitless and flawless.  Why then did God rest?  If God is omnipotent, why rest?  And simply because He rested on the seventh day, He made His people do it too?  If I can’t run the bases well in baseball, I don’t change the rules of the sport for the remaining capable athletes.

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            The first hermeneutical mistake we often make is the projection of human weakness and limitation onto God.  Humans frequently require rest because we are tired, overworked, and in need of rejuvenation and recuperation.  Therefore, we “take a break.”  This projection of our frailty onto God is problematic.  The Bible tells us that God is never tired because He is perfectly almighty and everlasting (cf. Isaiah 4:28).  God was not laboring to create, He merely spoke creation into existence (e.g., "Let there be light.")  Additionally, the literary and grammatical contexts of Genesis 2 do not reflect a rest due to weakness, but a ceasing of work.  The Scriptures do not read that God needed rest, but that He simply elected to stop creating.

            The second hermeneutical mistake we make is to immediately think of the Jewish requirement to honor the Sabbath.  The Sabbath was enacted by God through Moses as told in the book of Exodus.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11, ESV).

When our minds reflect upon this teaching, we project the mandate placed upon Old Testament man as an indication that God was obligated to rest on the seventh day.  There is no Scripture to indicate that is true.  He did, however, choose to rest.

            What did God do on His elected day of not creating?  On the sixth day, God saw all that He made and declared it "very good" (cf. Genesis 1:31).  On the seventh day, He ceased creating, blessed the day, and seemingly enjoyed His creation.  There was a moment in the creative process that is often overlooked: the appreciation of accomplishment, peace with one's work and status, and thankfulness for all that one possesses and has done.  In man's obsession with itself, such balance and rest is neglected for the sake of greater progress.  My father often said to me, "Do as I say, not as I do."  Yet God does not maintain such an approach to parental role modeling.  God intervened and implemented the concept of the Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath) for His people and points to His own rest as an example of what is righteous.  The Sabbath is not a manipulation of people to force them into taking a day off because God had to do so, but it is a demonstration of God's desire for His children to appreciate their lives and find creative balance.  Cease work, enjoy what God has given the strength to accomplish, and reflect in thankfulness for the provision given.